


be kind, rewind

by notreddieforit



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), M/M, blockbuster au is a thing right?, meet ugly, set in 1995
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26340796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notreddieforit/pseuds/notreddieforit
Summary: “You watching this for a class?” Richie asked curiously as he began to ring him up.“That’s a pretty big generalization. Maybe I just like French cinema.” Eddie said defensively as he slapped a bill down onto the counter.Richie snorted and counted out his change. “That’s a yes.”
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 79





	be kind, rewind

He’d been at Blockbuster for exactly seven shifts the day the robbery happened. 

Okay, maybe calling it a ‘robbery’ was a bit of a stretch but the very definition of robbery was _the action of taking property unlawfully from a person or place by force or threat of force._ And well, something _had_ been stolen and the thief _had_ knocked over all the candy by the counter and yelled a lot so Richie was going to call it a robbery thank you very much. It didn’t matter that the only thing stolen was three X-rated videos or that the thief was a prepubescent kid with what was obviously a pair of his mom’s stockings over his head. Richie still had to fill out an incident report so he was going to call it a robbery if he damn well wanted to. 

Honestly though the robbery was barely memorable for him. It would have been filed away as a funny story he worked into his comedy routine and nothing more had it not been for the other customer in the store at the time. 

The most beautiful boy he had ever seen had been pursuing the new releases when the kid who was wearing stockings incorrectly came into the store. Richie had been in the middle of debating what to say to the cute boy when he came up to the counter (he figured if worst came to worst, he could be totally unoriginal and make a joke about running because of his track team hoodie) when the kid started shouting and knocking over racks and running out the door. Richie had laughed about it (it seemed like the kind of thing he might have gotten up to back in the day) and he had still been laughing about it when the beautiful boy sped walked past the counter looking absolutely traumatized. Richie heard him mutter something under his breath about never coming to Blockbuster ever again. He seemed to be pretty good at keeping his word because Richie had yet to see his face again in the past two months. 

So yeah, robbery was a fitting word because that dick of a kid had robbed Richie of his chance to speak to the most beautiful person on the planet. 

(His manager made him fill out a second incident report after he’d put that on the first one.) 

Richie tried to erase the boy’s image from his mind but it was proving to be an impossible feat. He told himself to get over it and not to think about him and some days were more successful than others. By the time the next semester started he had all but given up on ever seeing the cute boy again, it was a big city, there were lots of Blockbusters out there after all. There wasn’t much chance that he was going to walk back into Richie’s. 

“Are you still pining?” Bev asked curiously, shaking a Twizzler at him as she swung her legs on the counter. 

Richie’s manager would have a shit fit if he saw her sitting like that but he’d already gone home for the evening leaving Richie alone to lock up for the night and what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. 

Leaning over Richie took a huge bite out of the licorice making Bev cry out in annoyance and pull the licorice to her chest protectively. Richie rolled his eyes at her before hoisting himself up to sit on the counter beside her and sneaking another piece of candy from the pouch. 

“I don’t pine Miss Marsh.” Richie corrected her because one, how dare she? And two, well there wasn’t really a two, he’d been pining hard for ages now but that didn’t mean she needed to go and bring it up. 

“Fine, are you still _yearning_?” Bev asked after a thoroughly spectacular roll of her eyes. Richie couldn’t even be annoyed with her because her eye roll was so impressive. It was an eyeroll that had been gifted by the Gods. 

“Shut up.” Richie nudged her shoulder with his own and kicked his feet as he held the licorice between his fingers like it was a cigarette. “I don’t mock you for you love of Benny.” 

“You literally do nothing else.” Beverly corrected him mimicking his hold on the candy. 

“Those are fighting words Red.” Richie told her warningly, brandishing his licorice at her like a sword. Beverly smiled at him like he’d hoped she would and she jumped off the counter and began to attack his candy with her own. Richie let out a cry of outrage and hoped off the counter to parry with her on the floor. They were so focused on their thoroughly spectacular sword fighting that neither of them even noticed the door had opened until a voice said, rather loudly. 

“What the _fuck_ goes on in this Blockbuster?” 

Richie cast a look over his shoulder and started in surprise to see the boy he’d thought he’d never see again standing in the doorway with two people flanked on either side of him. One of them looked amused and the other looked indifferent, but Richie didn’t care about them. Richie was too busy staring at the gorgeous creature who was looking at him with his hands on his hips and his eyebrows furrowed in disdain as he looked between Bev and Richie in disapproval. 

Before Richie could think of something clever to say Bev decided to take advantage of his distraction and jumped forward to thrust her candy sword ‘into’ his heart. 

Never one to pass up a performance Richie clutched the candy to his chest and slowly moaned as he sank to his knees. 

“Et tu Bev?” he gasped as he fell back onto the floor and gave his hand one final twitch before falling still. The store fell silent for a long moment, the only sound the tinny noise of the TV hanging from the ceiling and playing _Clerks_. Bev started clapping loudly and Richie popped up to his feet leaning over to place a wet kiss on her cheek making her exclaim in disgust. Turning to the group in the doorway Richie gave a low elaborate bow, holding his hands against his chest as the man on the right clapped politely. The indifferent one rolled his eyes and walked into the store headed for the new release section. The beautiful boy kept staring at Richie like he was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen but Richie was pretty sure that he was fighting back a smile. 

“I didn’t realize the video store was giving live performances now.” he quipped, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Richie in an almost challenging way. 

Richie grinned at him and flung his arms out wide. “We like to offer our customers a variety of ways to consume their entertainment!” 

The boy snorted and looked like he was going to retort when one of his friends called out to him, “They’ve got it Eddie!” 

Eddie turned from Richie then to watch his friends approach the counter happily, one of them holding a case with a familiar green cover. 

“ _The Mask_ eh? Excellent choice.” Richie said before launching into his best impression of Jim Carrey, “It's party time! p-a-r-t---y? Because I gotta!” 

Bev groaned from behind him. She had gone to see the movie in theaters with him three times before refusing to partake anymore and had been subjected to his relentless quoting of the movie for months. He’d mostly cooled down on quoting the movie (he’d moved on to _Dumb and Dumber_ ) and she clearly was not welcome to the idea of it returning. 

Eddie and his friends just looked at Richie blankly before the one holding the case shrugged and said almost apologetically, “We haven’t seen it yet.” 

“What do you live under a rock?” Richie only half joked. The movie had been one of the most popular summer blockbusters, he didn’t know how anyone could have missed it. 

His words hit a lot harder than a joke because Eddie bristled and turned to him with a glare. “Not everyone has access to a movie theater dick.” 

Richie’s mouth often got the better of him. Whatever muscle or vein or whatever that most people had that allowed them to think before they spoke seemed to be missing from Richie. He was always getting into trouble for not thinking through what he said but the truth was that he couldn’t. His mouth had a mind of his own and it chose that moment to remind Richie of that fact yet again. 

He locked eyes with the prettiest man he had ever seen, Eddie’s brown eyes sparking with fire that clearly read ‘Approach with Caution!’ and Richie’s dumbass mouth opened up with, “So you do live under a rock.” 

He heard a faint slapping sound from behind him and knew that Beverly had just placed her face in her palms. Richie shoved his hands into the pockets of his vest and offered Eddie an apologetic grin but before he could dig himself out (or deeper) of this hole Eddie huffed and pointed a finger at him. 

“Fuck you. And fuck this place.” Eddie whirled on his friend holding the movie and tried to take the case from his hands. “There’s a rental store on Jackson, we’ll just get it there Mike.” 

“Sorry Eddie but no.” Mike shook his head and easily stepped out of Eddie’s reach to pass the case to the remaining friend. “They’re already all checked out, I called earlier.” 

Eddie grit his teeth and Richie watched him curiously as he wondered how him being annoyed somehow made him more attractive. 

“Fuck! Fine.” Eddie snapped before shoving past his friends to get to the door. “I’m waiting outside. Don’t expect me to come back to this place again!” Eddie called warningly over his shoulder to Richie before he pushed out the door to wait presumably in the dark and cold rather than be inside with him any longer. 

Richie shoved down the dryness in his throat and his annoyance with himself for fucking something up before there even was something to fuck up. He turned to grin at Eddie’s friends who were looking at him almost apologetically. 

Even though they hadn’t seen the movie yet Richie launched into the voice of the Mask and put his hands on his chest as he asked innocently, “Was it something I said?” 

To his immense disappointment Richie really thought that would be the end of Eddie’s patronage to Blockbuster (or at the very least to the one he worked at) but either his anger was short lived or he was desperate to see a movie no one else in the city had because three weeks later he walked through the door. 

Richie tried not to look too happy to see him as he continued to pretend to dust the VHS cases and watched as Eddie approached the small international film section. He was bundled up to face the snow outside and his cheeks were flushed from the cold. Richie wondered what it would be like to make them flushed for other reasons as he shoved his duster in his back pocket and approached Eddie with a bounce in his step. 

Resting his arms on the top of the chest high rack Richie grinned down at Eddie who looked up at him wearily. 

“Help you find something?” Richie sternly told his mouth to be on its best behavior and he was pleased that for once it seemed to be listening to him and it didn’t launch into an accent or a voice or anything. It was just boring ole Richie when he spoke. 

“No.” Eddie said curtly before he tacked on hastily, “Thank you.” 

Richie knew a brush off when he heard one and with any other customer he would have happily walked away and let them do their own thing. Something about Eddie made him stay where he was, watching him curiously as he knelt down to browse the sections on the lower shelves. 

“Can I help _you_ find something?” Eddie snapped, glaring up at Richie who was startled to realize he was still standing over Eddie and watching him like a total creep. He felt his cheeks begin to heat up and grinned to try to shove away his embarrassment. Just because Eddie was beautiful didn’t mean Richie wanted to be caught staring at him like a weirdo. 

“Not unless your mom is here!” Richie cried quickly, pulling the duster out of his pocket and running it along the shelf. “Just doing my job!” 

Eddie looked up at him doubtfully before scanning the shelf again and grabbing a movie seemingly at random. “Can you do your job over there and ring me up?” 

“Of course, good chap!” Richie launched into the British accent he’d been perfecting for weeks but Eddie made no comment on how good it sounded as Richie hoisted himself up and over the counter. 

“You can’t use the door?” Eddie asked curiously as he placed the video on the counter and stared at Richie with one eyebrow raised. 

“Where’s the fun in that Eds?” Richie asked cheekily. 

Eddie’s face scrunched up and Richie wondered anxiously what he had said wrong now. “Don’t call me Eds.” 

“Why not?” Richie asked, leaning on his elbows on the counter to peer more closely at Eddie who glared at him and refused to back away even as Richie hovered just on the edge of his personal space. 

“Because Eddie is already a nickname for Edward. There’s no need to shorten it any further.” Eddie explained, nudging the VHS closer to Richie in an obvious attempt to distract him. Richie took it and stared down at the title curiously. It was some French movie he’d never heard of but to be fair he didn’t venture very far from the comedy section these days. 

“You watching this for a class?” Richie asked curiously as he began to ring him up. 

“That’s a pretty big generalization. Maybe I just like French cinema.” Eddie said defensively as he slapped a bill down onto the counter. 

Richie snorted and counted out his change. “That’s a yes.” 

Eddie looked ready to let out a biting retort but Richie’s manager chose that moment to emerge from the staff room and Eddie thankfully didn’t let loose on him in front of his boss. Instead he took his change from Richie who tried not to shiver when Eddie’s fingers brushed his palm and failed to hide a smile when Eddie leaned closer to whisper, “Shut the fuck up.” before walking away. 

Anyone else Richie would have thought they meant it but somehow Eddie said it the same way Bev said it, like an inside joke, like really, he wanted Richie to keep talking. But that was just Richie daydreaming. There was no way a boy as cute as Eddie, who wore a track team hoodie and watched French films maybe or not for fun and at one point didn’t have access to a movie theater, was going to ever want anything from Richie. 

At least, that’s what he thought. 

The next time Eddie came in it was an unseasonably warm day for early March and he was wearing his track team hoodie again. This time Richie managed to catch sight of his last name across the back, _Kaspbrak_. He rented _the Lion King_ and kept staring at Richie like he was daring him to make fun of him for renting a children’s movie. As if Richie would ever tease anyone for such a thing, especially over a movie as iconic as _the Lion King_. 

“Have you seen this one yet?” Richie asked curiously, desperately wanting to show Eddie his Mufasa impression on the counter. The reminder of Eddie’s annoyance the last time he quoted a movie was the only thing that stopped him. 

“No that’s why I’m renting it.” Eddie explained with an eyeroll at Richie’s pout in response. 

“Sometimes people rent things to rewatch them.” Richie reminded him as he slowly punched the numbers on the cash register. He always took his time when Eddie was around a fact that the impatient lady standing in line behind him did not seem to appreciate judging by how often she kept checking her watch. 

“Name one movie good enough to watch more than once.” Eddie challenged making Richie’s mouth drop open in surprise. 

“Are you serious?” He asked his mind already throwing titles to the forefront of his brain. “Do I have to name just one because I can think of so many that-” 

“Can you two do this later?” the woman in line interrupted, glancing between the two of them with a glare. 

Eddie flushed and looked about ready to retort but then he looked at Richie who was giving the woman his best customer service smile (while secretly flipping her off under the counter) and resigned himself to a sigh. 

“Make me a list.” Eddie said as he passed Richie exact change. Richie very deliberately made sure their hands touched as he took the money. 

“You got it Eds.” Richie grinned, saluting Eddie as he rolled his eyes and took his movie off the counter. The lady approached with a huff of ‘finally’ but Richie barely even heard her he was too busy watching Eddie walk away. 

The next movie Eddie rented made Richie admit to himself that he didn’t just find Eddie hot, he actually had a fucking crush on him and it was only getting stronger with every encounter. 

“I used to play this game all the time.” Richie shook his head at the memory of the arcade as he flipped the _Street Fighter_ case over in his hands. “Fucking classic.” 

“Is it any good?” Eddie asked curiously as he scanned the candy selection by the counter. 

“The movie? Yeah it's pretty fly.” 

“I meant the game.” Eddie explained as he placed a bag of Skittles on the counter. 

Richie gapped at him for a moment, struck speechless for likely the first time in his life. “You’ve never played Street Fighter?” He didn’t know such a thing was possible. Eddie really must have grown up under a rock. 

Eddie shifted anxiously. “Don’t make such a big deal about it asshole. It’s a video game.” 

“A great video game.” Richie said seriously making Eddie roll his eyes at him. 

“Whatever. Is it any good or not?” 

“There’s an arcade around the block.” Richie found himself saying, his heart suddenly pounding. “I could take you there after my shift.” 

Time seemed to slow as he waited for Eddie’s reaction suddenly fearing he was going to get a slur yelled at him or some other rude remark but of course Eddie proved to be perfect yet again because he only looked up at Richie almost apologetically. 

“Can’t tonight. I have a huge test tomorrow.” 

“Oh yeah sure of course.” Richie babbled trying to play it cool and not act like he was getting rejected. 

Some of Richie’s doubt must have shown on his face because Eddie quickly tapped a finger on the video and explained, “I’m grabbing this for my roommate. I was closer to the store and he bribed me with dinner so.” 

“Say no more. Free food. I get it.” Richie shrugged and leaned his elbows on the counter trying not to look too dejected. Eddie looked at him for a moment before reaching up and straightening Richie’s nametag. Richie held his breath until he pulled his hand away his eyes flicking up to meet Richie’s. 

“Where’s my list?” 

For a moment Richie’s mind was blank but then thankfully his remaining braincells worked together and he sprung into action. He dug the slightly wrinkled paper from his pocket and passed it to Eddie who took it with only a slight wrinkle of his nose. 

“Classics all of em.” Richie assured him as he resumed his lean on the counter wanting to be as close to Eddie’s orbit as he would let him. 

Eddie gave the list a quick curious glance before folding it far more carefully than Richie had and placing it and the movie into his backpack. “I’ll take your word for it Richie.” 

The sound of his name coming from Eddie’s mouth echoed through his mind the rest of the night. 

Spring break arrived before Richie knew it and he figured he wouldn’t see Eddie until it was over but on the very first night, he showed up at the door looking as cute as ever. 

“Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie exclaimed in happiness on seeing him and not just because he was his first customer in over an hour. Eddie’s face flushed at the nickname and Richie’s grin widened in delight. 

“Your nicknaming skills suck.” Eddie grumbled but Richie was pretty sure he could see the faint outline of a smile on his lips. 

“That’s not what your mom said last night.” Richie leaned on the counter to smirk at him. Riling Eddie up was so easy but somehow that made it even more enjoyable for him. 

Eddie turned a look of disdain on him as he lingered by the counter. “Mom jokes seriously? How old are you?” 

“My brain stopped growing at thirteen.” Richie said sagely making Eddie roll his eyes as he leaned on the counter as well. They were so close Richie could see the smattering of freckles across his nose. 

“That explains a lot about you.” Eddie stage whispered. Richie tried hard to focus on his words and not the fact that their hands were only an inch or two apart. 

“Sure, fucking does.” Richie agreed, wondering what Eddie would do if he moved his arm so that their hands were touching. He was sure he was reading far too much into everything but surely Eddie wouldn’t be leaning on the counter like this for nothing right? Richie found himself desperately wishing Bev was there to give him guidance. She always seemed to know better than him on what to do about this kind of thing. 

"I wanted to ask about your list.” Eddie’s eyes weren’t all one shade of brown like he’d thought. There were several colors molted all together and Richie was so fascinated he almost didn’t hear what Eddie had said. 

“What? Surprised by how awesome it was?” 

“Why are there so many fucking horror movies?” Eddie asked with a sigh making Richie grin. 

“You gotta watch them more than once to get the nuance of them Eds!” Richie explained, he’d long perfected his speech about how the horror genre got a bad rap and he was about to launch into it when Eddie bit his lip and looked down at their hands which seemed to have inched closer together of their own accord. Richie couldn’t tear his eyes off the way Eddie’s teeth dug into his lower lip and he felt himself shaking at holding back the urge to lean forward and press his own lips to Eddie’s. 

“I don’t like to watch scary movies.” Eddie explained slowly, looking up through his lashes at Richie and making his stomach swoop like the drop of a roller coaster. 

“Want me to watch them with you? I could hold your hand.” Richie offered using the pretense of the joke to close the nearly nonexistent distance between them and place his hand on Eddie’s. 

Eddie sucked in a sharp breath at the touch but he kept his eyes locked on Richie’s as he nodded and curled one of his fingers around Richie’s. “Yeah I’d like that.” 

**TWENY-FIVE YEARS LATER**

“Oh my god babe did you see this?” Richie asked excitedly, shoving his phone down into Eddie’s face where he was leaning on his chest. 

Eddie blinked and looked up at him in fond annoyance, he’d lectured Richie about holding his phone too close to his eyes more times than Richie could count. Still he took the phone from his hand and held it at a more readable distance. 

“Seriously?” He gave a wry shake of his head as he passed the phone back to Richie. “They’ll turn anything into a gimmick these days.” 

“We have to go.” Richie said immediately, he stopped running his fingers through Eddie’s hair so he could hold the phone with both hands. “Do you wanna go soon or wait till our anniversary?” 

Eddie pushed himself up off Richie’s chest to stare down at him in disbelief. “You seriously want to spend our anniversary at the Blockbuster airbnb?” 

“And go back to where the magic started?” Richie quipped, putting his phone down to take Eddie’s face in his palms and look at him seriously. “Of course, I fucking do.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes but when Richie pulled him down to kiss him he returned the kiss with as much fervor as he always did.


End file.
